Celebrate National Bird Day on January 5

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National Bird Day is a day to celebrate birds and acknowledge the exploitation of birds by the pet industry.

Birds are beautiful & inspirational for many people. According to a December 2013 Fish & Wildlife report, about 20% of the US population does some amount of birding. In 2011, that translated to 46,741,000 birders. That’s a lot of people with a serious interest in birds!

This planet hosts a great variety of birds too. As many as 400 billion individual birds. And almost 10,000 species of birds live around the globe.

Unfortunately, humans keep doing things that threaten birds, and the number of birds and bird species is dropping. We’ve seen at least 129 species go extinct.

But with awareness, we can help slow this decline.

 Why Celebrate and Protect Birds?

Birds are an important part of our ecosystem. Among other things, they:

• Distribute seeds and pollinate flowers, helping to ensure the survival of many plants
• Eat dead animals (the scavengers, like vultures, do anyway)
• Provide pest control by eating rodents and other pests

So yes, we need birds. But many species are in danger of extinction from the illegal pet trade, disease, and habitat loss. This is one reason we also need National Bird Day.

According to Born Free USA, other reasons include:

• We are inspired by birds’ beauty, songs and flight
• As many as 12 percent of bird species could go extinct within the next 100 years
• When we understand birds’ physical and behavioral needs, we can take better care of our pet birds

In partnership with the Avian Welfare Coalition (AWC), they use National Bird Day to raise awareness of the plight of captive birds. The AWC website also offers information about caring for captive exotic birds.

Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial but worthwhile holiday.

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Ideas For Celebrating National Bird Day

Despite the problems with the bird trade, one common and popular activity on this day is adopting a bird. For bird enthusiasts, educating new bird owners about the issues involved in caring for a bird is also important.

Plan to create a haven for migrating birds (and any other birds) in your yard this year. The National Wildlife Federation offers ideas for gardening for wildlife.

Join a bird conservation group to learn more about birds and how we can all help with conservation

Make suet or bird cakes to attract more feathered friends to your yard. Or if you’re not interested in making them, you can still give your birds a treat by buying them.

Spread the word on your favorite social media platform(s)!

Teachers and school administrators can celebrate by gearing the day’s lessons towards birds. Depending on the grade level, activities can range from a bird naming quiz or paper crafts to writing a short report about a specific bird species or learning about bird conservation activities in your area. You might even arrange a field trip to a museum or zoo.

 

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